Villagers protest nickel mining in S.E Sulawesi

Villagers in Kabaena, South East Sulawesi have voiced protests against nickel mining PT Billy Indonesia, accusing the firm of threatening their source of drinking water, Kompas daily reported on Monday.

They also criticized the community development (CD) program run by the firm, saying the amount of money promised by the firm for the CD program was too small, that is Rp 1,000 per ton of the shipped nickel.

Local communities said that they had been facing difficulties to get drinking water over the last several months because the firm's nickel mining activities in the upstream area had sharply reduced the volume of water at the source that supplies water to the villagers

Billy Indonesia's production manager Slamet Mudjiono said the firm had been operating in the area since December 2007. All the output is exported to China, he said. (*)